I'm making this face: http://gph.is/2CeIpwO
while I ask this.

This is a question about US population and so the context is US-centric.

keep these things in mind.

1. Pan Africanism is a complex identity. I at once view Africans, Carribeans, Afro-Latinos, and African Americans (re: "Black") in the US as Black and black. Identity is complex and its not as simple as US vs THEM and it varies a lot at the individual level.

2. The suggestion here is not retribution or corrective action in the form of barring or using socially based stigma because I offer no suggestion, just questions on the topic and if I'm being stupid about a thing I've noticed.

3. I'm ignorant to the facts and I'm really just using my own experience here, this is part sanity check, part wondering.



Aight?


Whew.





Is it just me (crowd shouting: Maybe!), but lately and by lately I mean...the last 5 to 10 years, whenever I see or hear of a successful Black (capitalization intentional) person in business or entertainment or other areas, I'm surprised but also totally not surprised when I realize that the person in question is African or the child of African immigrants (crowd shouting: Read. A. Book.)

I'm proud of us (and by us I mean all people presenting as Black), but a part of me has begun to wonder why African Americans seem to be not as represented. This kind of takes me down a rabbit hole of thought where my conclusion lands on systemic racism at the level of early education, freedom of expression in the realm of self-determination, and the creation of self-image. This is to say that I think all black people in the US experience the same dirty tricks of racism but Africans may have a different set of tools that produce different outcomes. (crowd: 😒)

I should reiterate that my perspective is not that seats from the table are being taken, instead, I'm asking why it seems to me that we aren't at the table with them in matching numbers?

I'm ignorant so maybe I'm noticing something that's not there, maybe I'm wrong as fuck. I will accept that.

Maybe this is me being a white man about things and thinking equality is the same as oppression if all you've had is privilege - meaning, I'm noticing a big nothing and I'm only focusing on table scraps and not the big picture

I hate that this is even a question that has come to mind for me.

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https://soundcloud.com/swageyph/yph-die-with-me